Easy Christmas watching

Animated Filmation Christmas TV movie, originally broadcast December 1985. Running time 45 minutes.

Princess Adora has travelled from Etheria to Eternia, along with many of her friends, to celebrate hers and Prince Adam's birthday. As final preparations are underway at the royal palace, Orko accidentally travels to Earth in a space shuttle built for spying on Skeletor, arriving (unbeknownst to him) at Christmas time. There he encounters two lost children. When Man-At-Arms eventually transports Orko back to Eternia, the children come with him. As the children try to explain to everyone what Christmas is, Horde Prime becomes aware of their presence. Worried that 'Christmas spirit' could weaken his power, he dispatches Skeletor and Hordak to bring the children to him. When Adam and Adora become aware of Horde Prime's scheme they decide that He-Man and She-Ra will have to make sure it fails.

The animation is on a par with the He-Man and She-Ra TV shows that were running at the time, and it retains all their voice actors. It's clearly a 'feel good' movie for the whole family, to be watched alongside all the other Christmas TV specials. And to that end it does what it's intended to do. Nothing here advances the overarching plots of He-Man or She-Ra; it's more of a time-out from their regular adventures. That said, it does a good job of not seeming out of place, with many supporting characters from both shows getting at least a visual appearance, and some even a few lines. We get a nice 'adventure within an adventure' as She-Ra journeys back to her own world to find a rare crystal to power Man-At-Arms' teleportation device, recruiting more of her allies. But the highlight is undoubtedly Skeletor, trying to resist an Ebeneezer Scrooge-like transformation, being appalled at the very idea of being 'nice'! Some chuckle out loud lines there!

Harmless Christmas nostalgia. 6/10